Whether you are a permanent resident or among the 70 per cent of holiday home owners who visit Whangamata only occasionally, Environment Waikato wants your feedback on proposals to improve the health of the harbour.

A total of more than $160,000 in fines and costs have been imposed on a company and a contractor developing a Waikato hydro power scheme in the upper Waipa River. The fines and costs resulted from a prosecution taken by Environment Waikato, for what council staff described as “flagrant environmental vandalism”.

Hamilton City Council can continue discharging leachate and landfill gas from the closed Willoughby Street landfill on the condition it puts in place a range of measures to protect people, property and the environment.

With summer approaching, Environment Waikato is appealing for motorcycles and four-wheel drive vehicles to be kept out of sand dunes on the region’s West Coast beaches for safety and environmental reasons.

If you’re undecided about what to do about the mangroves in Whangamata’s harbour and estuary, drop in to the Healthier Harbour information day anytime between 10am and 2pm this Saturday. It’s being held at the Thames-Coromandel District Council office on Port Road in Whangamata.